Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy proposed six-month obligatory community service for French 18 to 30-year-olds today as he accelerated his presidential bid at a key party conference.

President Jacques Chirac, juggling the demands of outraged students, frustrated MPs and his loyal premier, must make a key decision today on how to handle a controversial youth employment law to pull France out of crisis.

TWO French journalists freed after a 4-month hostage ordeal in Iraq returned to a heroes’ welcome in Paris yesterday as the relieved government basked in a national wave of joy at their safe release.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin tonight named France’s first centre-right Cabinet in five years, selecting a veteran diplomat to lead the Foreign Ministry and for the first time a woman as head of defence.